Apparitional Superstitions
by Ariannah360
Summary: "As if I'd ever be afraid of something that stupid." Brick walks Blossom home on an unexpectedly dark night. REDS, halloween fic.


**Title -** Apparitional Superstitions

**Summary -** "As if I'd ever be afraid of something that stupid." Brick walks Blossom home on an unexpectedly dark night. REDS, halloween fic.

**Pairing(s) - **Reds

**Rating - **K, believe it or not, I've managed to write a fic that is not polluted with vulgar language.

**Status - **Oneshot; Complete

**Important Notes - **In the spirit of Halloween, and my unfairly least-written couple, consider this a GIFT, my loves. Reference to the episode "Super Zeroes".

**Disclaimer - **Me no owns Powerpuff Girls.

**XXX**

Blossom grimaced at the wretched decorations littering the hallways of the school. Miniature ghosts, skeletons, and bats hung in every place possible. She'd even found some in the stalls of the bathroom. It wasn't that comfortable to have a beady eyed bat cutout staring at you while you released your inner fluids.

She didn't like Halloween. Not one bit. Townsville High was having a dress-up day. The only reason she decided to participate in wearing her costume was because her very excited little sister pestered and bothered and begged her to. Bubbles loved any excuse to wear her Harmony Bunny costume. Buttercup dressed as Mange again. And from what she'd heard, Boomer was being a werewolf and Butch was Frankenstein.

The grimace on the redhead's soft facial features only intensified when a certain cap wearing character obnoxiously cross into her line of vision. Stupid jerk.

"Why, hello there," Brick said mockingly to her, smirking to show off his fake fangs. His face seemed paler than usual. That and the fangs were all he needed to complete his vampire look.

"Oh, shut up," she hissed at him.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" He eyed her up and down, causing a small blush to arise in her cheeks.

"_Liberty Belle_, moron."

"Onesies look good on you," he advanced. His satisfaction grew when her face heatened up noticeably. But it was probably because of her anger.

"Quit leering at me, you _pig_." She shoved past him and tried to muster up what was left of her dignity as her red thigh high heels clacked articulately with her every step. The only thing that irked him, however, was how the cape covered every last inch of the back of her body.

...

Blossom didn't mind the early hours of Halloween. She didn't even mind the cute little children that came to her doorstep continuously, either wanting candy or just an excuse to look at the famous Powerpuff Girls. She loved the children. And she loved the shocked, happy looks on their faces when she put a secretive finger over her lips and gave them more candy than she should've, but not before warning them not to eat it all at once, else they'll be greeted by a stomachache.

No, Blossom didn't mind it one bit. When it came to children and making people feel pleased at all, she found herself to be quite like her blonde sister. But when nightfall came, _that's_ when she gained Buttercup's perspective of things.

Night was suspicious. Anything could be hidden anywhere and you wouldn't know because it was so damn dark. What if a monster was to come out of nowhere and begin terrorizing the town without anyone's notice? Then the hotline would never ring, the citizens would be in grave danger, the girls would be ridiculed and _hated_ and -

Okay. That's quite enough overthinking, Blossom.

The redhead took a deep breath and looked up at the gloomy evening sky with a crooked, uncertain frown on her face. Her heart was racing, and she felt unsafe even with all the people russling and hussling about. What was she so scared of? She was a _superhero_. She could defend herself. Nothing should scare her.

She found herself staring into her locker after school hours. She should've been out of there at least half an hour ago. But...it had been so dark out. And now, because of her foolishness, it was even _darker_.

She wished so dearly for someone to walk home with. Her sisters had dashed out of the school to go a Halloween party at Todd's house with Brick's brothers. Needless to say, she groaned and moaned in agony and grief when they'd done so. If only they stayed just a little bit longer. Long enough for her to catch up. And now, here she was, hoping there was someone still stuck in the school to walk home with. But that's ridiculous. Everyone's gone either back home to that party. There's absolutely no other being left in this build -

"What the hell are you still doing here?"

_God_, no.

Blossom slowly lifted her head to meet the red eyes of her counterpart. One of his brows was raised, the other furrowed questioningly. He'd washed off the makeup, and looked more tan than ever. His face was glistening a bit, so he had to have washed it just then.

"I could ask you the same thing," Blossom said, turning to him and crossing her arms.

He failed to keep an emotionless expression and began to laugh. "I'm sorry," he breathed, "I just can't take you seriously in that costume."

"Liberty Belle is a very respectable hero!" she snapped at him, a blush on her cheeks. "You just don't see the bigger picture."

"Sure I don't," he said. "Now what are you doing here?"

"Well, I, uh," she stuttered. She found it quite embarrassing that she was afraid of the dark. How Bubbles-esque. She didn't want to say something so shameful out loud, so she rubbed her arm and motioned to window with her eyes. He blinked, and then looked at where she'd silently pointed. He snorted.

"Scared of the dark, are we?" he scorned.

"Shut _up_! This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you!" she snapped, pouting and turning away from him.

"But why don't you just _fly_ home then?"

"It's not that I'm scared of what'll happen to _me_, Brick."

It took him a moment to analyze what she said, and then he sighed. "That's so corny."

"Well, it's true," she huffed. She flinched in surprise when he started to walk over to her, but then passed right by her. Unexpectedly, he stopped a few yards away from her and turned his head to the side to say, "Are you coming or not?"

Blossom took a few seconds to process the implication, then scampered up right next to him. He only stared straight ahead of him, not giving her a second glance until they passed through the exit.

Kids in costumes scurried around like little mice. They held large pumpkin buckets overflowing with funsized candies like Snickers, Musketeers, and Baby Ruths. Some kids already had their mouths full greedily when asking, "Thrick or threet!"

Blossom smiled at the children, and Brick noticed this. Her smile was warm and sweet. It was nice. Well, of course it would be nice. Her element was _Everything Nice_, right? It fit her. Yes, it fit her just perfectly.

She suddenly looked at him in the middle of his thoughts, causing him to wince. "You know where I live, right?" Her voice had turned to a soft, dulcet tone. He guessed she was still kind of dazed by the kids.

"Yeah, yeah," he answered absentmindedly.

It was strange, she thought. She felt safe with him. She had a hearty feeling that he would protect her. Even if there was nothing really to protect her _from_, he'd still protect her.

It was getting dark very fast. It was about half past four, but it looked more like midnight. There were even crickets out already. The children had ceased trick-or-treating in the area they were now in, and everything was dead silent, save for the crickets. Blossom was beginning to whiten a bit, and again Brick noticed this.

"What? Scared of the _ghosts_?" His teasing was merciless. A whimper of fear _briefly_ escaped her mouth, but then she adopted a stern, skeptical expression. He raised an eyebrow.

"As if I'd ever be afraid of something that _stupid_," she scoffed. He looked at her hands and, despite her stoic look, saw that they were shaking. He had a feeling it wasn't from the cold.

The next few minutes were uncomfortably quiet. In fact, it felt like he wasn't even next to her. She decided to ask him why he became so mute and turned to him to find nothing but swishing air beside her.

"Brick?" Adrenaline immediately flooded her system and her heart nearly pounded out of her chest. "_This isn't funny_." Hearing no answer, she gulped as she felt tears beginning to swell behind her eyes. "Brick!"

How could he _do_ this to her? She'd just begun to trust him and now he just turned and left her to rot on the sidewalk. What an ignorant _jerk_! She could walk the rest of the way home, but looking at the street she was on she realized that was another seven blocks. And then she could fly home, but the sky looked an unearthly dark brownish-blue color, and it made her sick to her stomach.

She was such a fool. The _nerve_ -

A hand touched her shoulder. To say she emitted a deafening scream was an understatement. She gasped and wrenched her neck, positively sure she'd just had a mini heart attack. Tears leaked freely out of her eyes as if the droplets had lives of their own, determined to streak a race down her flushed cheeks.

She was met with the wide, shocked crimson orbs of her counterpart, who'd apparently been the one to touch her. They just stared at each other. Brick looked at her wet, reddened face. He'd never seen her in such a vulnerable state. It made him angry.

"I...decided to fly, since you looked just fine walking by yourself," he explained, still surprised by the fact that she was crying. She didn't respond. Rather, she still stared at him.

The appalled look on his face disappeared, and he sneered at her. "Something so _stupid_, huh?" He abruptly pulled her by the shoulders and wrapped her up in his arms. She was so petite compared to him.

Blossom frowned into his chest. "You're never gonna live this down, are you?"

"Probably not," Brick answered simply. He ran a hand through her hair in subtle manner, causing her to blush harder, "Still wanna walk home?"

"...Will you stay next to me at _all times_?" she asked darkly, scowling up at him.

He looked off to the side innocently. "Sure."

"I'm serious, Brick, that wasn't f -"

He cut her off with a kiss, earning a squeak from her. His lips were incredibly soft for a guy, and he radiated a lot of heat in contrast to the cold autumn air. He pulled away before she had the chance to kiss back, causing her to gasp. She didn't realize she was holding her breath.

"Well," she rasped, "I'm not scared anymore."

He broke the hug and held onto her hand tightly, giving her a coquettish, cynical look. "I'm not taking any chances with you."

Her scowl faltered, and she gave in to smiling at him. She felt safe again. But this time, she knew the feeling was certain and reciprocated when he ended up walking her all the way home, never letting go of her hand.

**END**

_Ah, the Reds. How cute. This was fun to write, considering I don't do much of the Reds. _

_I originally intended to release this a bit earlier but, you know, life happens. I wanted this to be at least a remotely kid-friendly fic, so NO CUSSING FOR ARIANNAH (hell is NOT a cuss, adults just brainwash you to think so. Stupid dipthongs those guys are). At least here. Tell me what you think of this, pls._

_Hugs and Kisses :*_


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